'I was on the brink of a breakdown after Madeleine disappeared' Kate McCann revealsBy Sam Greenhill

Last updated at 8:51 AM on 14th June 2011

Comments (72) Add to My Stories Share Kate McCann felt ‘totally out of control’ and was on the brink of emotional breakdown after her daughter Madeleine went missing, she revealed yesterday.Only psychological counselling saved her, she told MPs as she called for more support for the parents of missing children.Mrs McCann, 43, described the overwhelming sense of helplessness, saying she and husband Gerry simply ‘could not function’ after the three-year-old disappeared from their holiday apartment in Portugal in May 2007.

Sowing the strain: 'If your child goes missing, you may get nothing,' Kate McCann said todayThe mother-of-three told of her torment at a Commons inquiry into whether families receive enough help when relatives disappear. More...Cameron pledges millions towards vaccination of the world's poorest children (so what's everybody else doing?)

She said anguished parents were often not updated on their case and often faced difficult battles with officialdom. ‘To be left in the dark when your child is missing is unbearable, bordering on the inhumane,’ she said. Kate McCann joined Nicki Durbin, right, and Sarah Godwin to highlight the case of their lost children Madeleine, Luke and Quentin Madeleine McCann went missing on May 3, 2007‘You are left with unimaginable, unending heartbreak, confusion, guilt and worry.

'Emotional and psychological support is essential. 'As human beings, we are not equipped to deal with such profound and devastating emotion.’ The former GP said she and her husband were lucky their holiday company flew out a trauma counsellor to help them.

‘It is of paramount importance,’ she said. ‘We couldn’t function. It’s the first time in my life I felt totally out of control.Assistant Chief Constable Phil Thompson, a spokesman on missing persons for the Association of Chief Police Officers, admitted in his evidence: ‘We have to do better.’ Also with Mrs McCann were Sarah Godwin, whose son Quentin was 18 when he went missing in New Zealand in May 1992 ,and Nicki Durbin, whose son, Luke, 19, vanished four years ago. Quentin Godwin, left, was 18 when he went missing in May 1992 while Luke Durbin disappeared on May 12, 2006 aged 19

The three mothers, each holding images of their missing loved ones, faced the press ahead of the first session of the inquiry

She said anguished parents were often not updated on their case and often faced difficult battles with officialdom. ‘To be left in the dark when your child is missing is unbearable, bordering on the inhumane,’ she said

@ROSA wrote:She said anguished parents were often not updated on their case and often faced difficult battles with officialdom. ‘To be left in the dark when your child is missing is unbearable, bordering on the inhumane,’ she said

Why do the McCanns never think about what they are saying.'Battles with officialdom', one supposes means the police who are not taking their made up story seriously, (or in fact any of their made up stories,)And how can Katey use the phrase "Left in the dark" without appreciating the terrible irony.Inhumane is a good word to use for leaving the three children in the dark in an unlocked apartment out of sight and earshot of where you were, night after night.Other words also spring to mind. Negligent, criminal, irresponsible, thoughtless, cruel,

@ROSA wrote:She said anguished parents were often not updated on their case and often faced difficult battles with officialdom. ‘To be left in the dark when your child is missing is unbearable, bordering on the inhumane,’ she said

Why do the McCanns never think about what they are saying.'Battles with officialdom', one supposes means the police who are not taking their made up story seriously, (or in fact any of their made up stories,)And how can Katey use the phrase "Left in the dark" without appreciating the terrible irony.Inhumane is a good word to use for leaving the three children in the dark in an unlocked apartment out of sight and earshot of where you were, night after night.Other words also spring to mind. Negligent, criminal, irresponsible, thoughtless, cruel,

I think Katey has lost touch with reality. I believe she has been/has herself so isolated that any corrections on her behaviour, what she says, what she writes don't get through to her. She is a sociopath, so she does not have the build in check of what is right/wrong, what can be said/cannot be said, what would a normal person do. So when you take away the only correcting source for her behaviour that still exist: the comments of the "normal" world she will loose the only touchstone for her behaviour/remarks. I don't think anyone close to her has the guts to say anything, even when they see, and I am convinced some do. I think Katey is not a pleasant person to disagree with. So she will be increasingly extreme, shameless and outrageous weird. Events like yesterday might convince more and more people that Kate might not be the right person to represent such a vulnerable group as missing persons. That would be a (huge) step in the right direction, as ma Healy said about the 3,5 million investigation that only they got.

The woman needs a cell with soft walls, and a lot of classical music.

____________________"And if Madeleine had hurt herself inside the apartment, why would that be our fault?" Gerry

Kate McCann complains frequently that her children are "hysterical" and says that Madeleine is a hyperactive child who tires her out to the point of despair.First Post, quoting Correio de Manha 14/9/07

Madeleine would run around 'screaming...shouting for my attention', the mother-of-three said.In an interview given to a Portuguese magazine before she was named as a suspect in the case of the four-year-old's disappearance, Kate also said the first six months of Madeleine's life were "very difficult" and that the girl had suffered from colic.Speaking about Madeleine's upbringing, Kate, a 39-year-old GP, told Portugal's Flash! magazine: "She cried practically for 18 hours a day. I had to permanently carry her around."This period explained "the strong bond between mother and daughter", she said.Although the arrival of the twins Sean and Amelie shook up Madeleine's life, she accepted them very well, said Kate."She managed to deal perfectly with this new reality, although she herself at the time was still a baby."The worst thing is that she started to demand lots of attention, especially when I was breast-feeding them."She would run up and down screaming in the background, shouting for my attention”.Kate McCann, Daily Mail 17/9/07, quoting Portugese magazine Flash

____________________Whose cadaver scent and bodily fluid was found in the McCann's apartment and hire car if not Madeleine's?